


When a Forest Calls

by acedtheblondetest



Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Eventual SouKisu I promise, Fantasy, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-26
Updated: 2019-08-26
Packaged: 2020-09-26 22:20:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20397064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/acedtheblondetest/pseuds/acedtheblondetest
Summary: Sousuke Yamazaki has never left the village where he’s grown up and yet he continues to get lost on his own. Caught in a storm, he accidentally ends up in the cursed forest no one has been allowed to enter for years. With the help of the strange pink kitsune Kisumi, can he find his way home through this strange, beautiful world of spirits, and deal with long hidden hurts along the way?





	When a Forest Calls

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve wanted to do something with a fox Kisumi for YEARS. When the vague thought of this fic first occurred to me one sleepy Saturday morning - I knew it was perfect for this incarnation of him.

This is the story of a boy, a fox, and a forest.

There once was a village with a mountain north and the sea to the south. There were many fishermen in the village that left in the twilight hours to return in the morning with their catch to sell. Travelers entered the abundant land of their village by the road that led east to west, through the glistening rice fields and the neatly tilled vegetable plots. There was a family restaurant that cooked all of the local fish and vegetables seasoned with the herbs brought by merchants. It was a busy village - happy and flourishing with land blessed to be bountiful by the Gods.

The forest that coated the mountain to the north was always active, with the living as well as that of spirits. Any trees that were cut, any fruit that was found, any wild animal that was hunted for meat must be prayed over as thanks to the Gods before it be taken from the forest. A shrine lay at the end of the single road that led up the mountain. At the start of every spring a procession of villagers climbed the steps to the shrine to make their offerings and pray for another year of blessed life.

One year a traveler was found dead on the road outside the village. Mushrooms were growing out of his mouth and scratches covered his arms. That same night wild boars came down from the mountain and trampled all of the rice fields, dug up all of the vegetables. It was near the end of the growing season and no new crops would last in the destroyed soil. Terrible storms and blizzards made the roads impassable, the ocean an angry, dangerous thing to behold. The whole village starved that winter. The people prayed from dawn to dusk at the mountain shrine but nothing changed. They left offerings that rotted overnight. It became known as the Cursed Years, the few small children that survived called the Blighted Generation.

Finally, after three harsh winters passed, offerings that were left at the very edge of the forest were gone in the morning. The planted seeds began to grow again. The seas as well as the skies calmed their wrath. The village had been forgiven and everyone rejoiced. But they would never forget. Fences were erected at the end of the forest’s shadow. Strong posts placed deep into the ground held up trails of thick rope that were tied with large brass bells. If anyone tried to enter the forest the whole line of the boundary would break out into loud ringing to warn the village. While the crops began to grow and the rivers held fish once more, the abundance of the time before the Cursed Years would not return. No one dared think what fate would befall the village should they anger the forest once more. Eventually the road to the abandoned shrine became overgrown, lost to the trees.

In this village lived a boy named Sousuke Yamazaki. His mother and elder brother worked hard to make good food for the villagers and the travelers at the family restaurant. Their family had owned it for generations. Sousuke was expected to do his part - but as one of the Blighted Generation they made sure to let him play and grow strong.

“You were only a few years old at the start of the Cursed Years,” his brother would say when he had to work and Sousuke was given leave to play with his friends. “You became small and weak so fast. Nobody knew if you were going to live for a long time. Now mom wants to make up for lost time and let you be a kid.”

The other villagers often gave Sousuke toys of the children that had passed, or called him in from the street to give him treats. “They want to spoil you as thanks for what your father did during the Cursed Years,” his mother would say in that soft voice of hers.

Sousuke did not remember his father. Sometimes he thought he had brief images of him, as hazy as people walking in the morning mists that rolled off of the ocean. But he could never be for sure if they were his memories - or ones planted there by how others spoke of him. A large, broad man with Sousuke’s big ears and black hair. A laugh so loud you could hear it from the docks.

“When I had no money or goods to exchange he fed me soup that kept me alive. Please, have this sweet bun.”

“He came to my sons funeral with enough to feed us for a week. Have my son’s toy horse.”

“Such a kind man. He died with a smile on his face.”

Sousuke would thank them for their gifts and memories of his father before going on his way. He knew better than to say what was really in his heart. That he did not understand why anyone would smile when they died from giving away all of their own food. A man who helped others until he wasted into nothing and left his whole family wearing a smile was an idiot.

Sousuke’s best friend Rin had also lost his father to the Cursed Years. He was a fisherman that had gone too far out during a storm to catch fish for his newborn daughter, Rin’s younger sister Gou. His boat never returned to the docks of their village. Among the Blighted Generation their stories of loss were not uncommon. Everyone in the village had lost a parent, a child, a sibling, a friend.

And yet… Sousuke never spoke to anyone about his feelings. About how he thought his father was stupid, how he resented him. He was certain no one would understand - even Rin. Rin who swam with him from the beach, racing each other to see who was the fastest. Rin who laughed at Sousuke every time he got lost simply going from his house to the docks.

But Rin did not have the same amount of chores as Sousuke. All he had to do was watch his little sister. So while Sousuke was busy cleaning at the restaurant in the mornings Rin became friends with other children. Haruka, Makoto, Nagisa. Sometimes Sousuke would be let out to play and Rin was having so much fun with his other friends, he would forget to return to find Sousuke. He would always apologize - grin telling stories of the adventures the four of them would have while Sousuke worked. If Sousuke pouted Rin would laugh and promise to wait for him the next day.

It all began with a storm. It had been cloudy all morning and by the time Sousuke was told he could go play the loud booms of thunder could be heard.

“You can play inside and be with your friends tomorrow.” His mother said, busy making warm stew for all of the people that would be coming in wet from the rain.

“But Rin’s sister gets scared of the thunder. They’ll be inside all day too. I can go and play at their house.” Sousuke insisted. With the weather none of Rin’s other pesky friends would be around - it could be just them all day.

His mother only shook her head, “you will get lost on your own.”

“It’s just to Rin’s house, and it isn’t even raining yet!” Sousuke persisted.

“In broad daylight we have had to find you standing in front of the Line,” mother sighed, turning to fully face the pot again as if to close the subject.

Sousuke’s brother stepped in, asking a question about some spices or other, and winked to Sousuke while their mother dug through a cabinet with her back turned. If he hurried Sousuke could sneak out while she was busy. Sousuke gave his brother a thankful nod before he slipped out the back door of the restaurant as quietly as possible.

In glee at his successful escape he hopped from stone to stone of the walk behind their house. At the loud boom of thunder overhead he nearly slipped from the last stone before it turned to a dirt path. When he looked up the clouds were an ominous dark gray, yellow-white lightening opening up the sky in violent cracks. He had best hurry before the rain came and made it even harder to find his way.

He did not always get lost. He did not always have to be found by his family, standing in front of the Line before the mountain forest. It gave him a good view of the town or the road to try and get his bearings when he did get lost. That was it.

It was not at all that something always drew him there. That whenever he got lost and ‘followed his feet’ as his brother told him to do - that it was there that his feet led him. To the Line of rope and bells barring anyone from entering the cursed forest around the mountain. Sousuke had told his mother once that he felt called there. Just once. From the look of sheer fear and worry that had taken over the face of his eternally calm mother he had never mentioned it again. And he never argued with his mother once she brought it up, even if every part of him wanted to tell her that he knew better than to ever enter the forest.

But storms, and the gods that conjure them, always make a mockery of the decisions mortals make.

Sousuke was certain that he was taking a shortcut to Rin’s house. The one they always walked whenever Rin was with him. Rin’s family still lived in a house near the docks, even with his fisherman father gone from this world. Roads led from the restaurant down to the water easily enough, but there were houses of a few elderly in between. Older folk that yelled at the boys for making too much noise with their games and laughter. So they had learned to take a different route, veering off to the side so they walked mostly through fields before following the shoreline to the docks. It meant they could look for bugs in the fields or shells on the beach.

“Past the daikon and turn right at the start of the rice fields,” Sousuke told himself very seriously as it began to rain. If he concentrated and kept repeating the words he heard in Rin’s voice he would not get lost. He would not.

But by the time he reached the fields the rain had become a downpour. Already the rice fields had began to fill up, washing over where the paths down the hill should have been. The rain was falling in thick sheets, the sky so dark, Sousuke had to raise his arm to his face and squint to see anything. There was no clear way down - but he thought he saw lights up ahead. They flickered white. A house. Maybe he could dry off there and wait until the storm passed.

The wind was hitting him so hard it felt like he was climbing uphill. Leaves and sticks flew at his face and the rushing water he walked through became higher and higher up to his knees. The water became and thicker and thicker with mud with bits of earth quickly washing past him. Sousuke had never seen a storm this angry. Was this what it was like during the Cursed Years?

Lightning flashed overhead and it seemed as if the whole earth beneath him shook. A large tree came crashing down to his right. With the water rising Sousuke grasped for it. His fingers scaped painfully at the bark over and over as he began to be washed away. He could not find anything to hold onto. Was he going to die like this? In a flash flood, lost on the way to his best friend’s house? What about his mom and his brother? After father they would be heartbroken. He could just see his mother, face always pink from cooking in the kitchen, sitting away from a stove gone dark. Her beautiful long hair all a mess out of her yellow bandanna he had helped her dye himself.

Finally his hand caught some rope tangled in one of the lower branches. Sousuke gripped onto it with everything he had, slowly pulling himself along the length of it. It was an extreme effort to fight the current of rushing water but finally he was climbing up onto the tree. He flopped down onto the thick trunk, soaked and exhausted. As his vision went dark he thought he saw the lights moving closer, white shifting into a soft pink. What kind of house had pink lights?

The smell of incense and wet earth drifted into his nose. He is on hard ground. He must have made it to the house.  
The birdsong is so much louder here. Only on the clearest of days can it be heard from the main part of the village where Sousuke lives. The house must be closer to the forest. Here they sound… almost like music. How strange. When he hears laughter underscoring the music Sousuke sits up. He had to thank whoever had brought him into their home.

The first thing he notices, however, is that he is not in a house. The screened walls around him are decrepit, with squares punctured or whole chunks knocked out by tree branches growing into the building. Against the back wall is a large wooden table, faded symbols in gold paint decorating the front of it.

The second thing he notices is that he is nowhere near the village. Through the opening of the front of the building he can see a stone path he does not recognize. Patches of grass and tiny yellow flowers sprout through the path in spots. Leaves, fallen branches, and moss overtake other parts of the aged stone. All around there is soft green shade cast upon the ground with bits of yellow light filtering through leaves high up above.

The third thing Sousuke takes note of is a small fox. It has pale pink fur that is tipped in white at its ears and tail. It stares at him with large, uncertain eyes from the edge of the stone path. When he locks eyes with it - the animal yips in fright and dashes out of sight.

A… pink fox… was he dead? Was he dreaming? Sousuke stood and brushed at his clothing. His blue cotton kimono was stiff against his body, so caked in mud it was. The sensation itself, of dried mud cracking along his joints when he moved, was a bit too real for this to be a dream. Dead then?

Slowly Sousuke stepped out onto the porch of the building he was in. From there he could see two statues that stood before the steps. They appeared to be animals by their paws and the shape of their back legs but Sousuke had to step down to inspect them closer. The one to the left had two thick tails curled behind it that tapered into points, like paint brushes. Moss and tiny white flowers grew up along the slope of it’s back. It’s face was a cracked void, all that was left of it crumbled stone in an unrecognizable heap on the ground. The statue on the right had a pointed nose with long, slender eyes. The mouth was open as if the statue were laughing, but the cracks running down from it’s eyes made it look like it was crying at the same time. Behind the stone body was rubble covered over by grass growing up the side of the statues base.

“Foxes…” Sousuke whispered, stepping back to take in the both of them. One missing it’s face, the other it’s tails. Multiple tails.

This was… a shrine.

“Funny human.” A voice ‘whispered’ behind him.

Sousuke turned suddenly to see where the sound had come from. Just as his gaze came round someone fell out from some tall grass not far from the overgrown stone path. Sousuke knelt down to inspect this person as they sat up, dirt smudged on their cheek and a few leaves in their hair. Their fluffy pink hair.

With animal ears tipped in white sticking out. They turned this way and that responding to the sounds around them - before falling back flat against the head when the boy finally looked up at Sousuke. He was grinning big and bright with purple eyes that nearly disappeared in his smile. “Hi!”

Sousuke pulled a leaf from the kid’s hair, unable to look away from those ears. On dogs flattened ears meant they were angry or scared. “Hi…”

Why would a kid his age have ears that moved like a dogs? Why did he wake up in a shrine? _Why were there pink foxes?_

“I’m in the forest, aren’t I?”

“Well where else would you be?” Everything this boy said tapered off into a laugh. As if words were breaths of air he had to get out in a hurry before he could laugh again.

He was a child. Probably just around ten like Sousuke, or at least that was how old he looked to him. For some reason Sousuke had never thought there could be children spirits. Other than perhaps those that were the ghosts of children that had once walked among the living. “Are you… a fox spirit?” He squinted at the bushy tail twitching behind the boy as he absently stared into the grass. But when those purple eyes turned to him again Sousuke could not keep from staring right back into them. They were beautiful and not at all human.

“So much for thanking me after I saved you in that storm, huh human?” The pink fox stood, wiping at the front of his red and white kimono. He was wearing that broad grin again. “Shouldn’t you be bowing before me in gratitude? Offering your first born? Oooo, or maybe something to eat. Do you know those sticky buns your people leave by the Line, human? Those are the best. I would gladly take some of those. For a start, for saving your life, human.” His voice was high and breathy, like a melody that got ahead of itself.

“I have a name, not just ‘human’,” Sousuke huffed, crossing his arms as he brought himself up to stand. At least he was a little taller than this fox. Minus the ears. “It’s Sousuke.”

At first the fox looked a bit surprised - before he threw his head back and laughed. A loud, happy laugh that reached his eyes far more than all of his smiles before combined. They were all crinkled up like that statue’s when he looked at Sousuke again. “Well, Sousuke, my name is Kisumi. I’m a Kitsune of this forest.”

“But I didn’t go into the forest! Not… not on purpose.” Sousuke shook his head, looking all around him. There were trees as far as he could see. Large trees that must have been hundreds of years old, nothing like the groves they had back home. And the shrine, human made but long forgotten. There was no mistaking where he was. The full realization brought Sousuke to the ground, holding his head in his hands.

“Will the village be cursed again? I was only-I was just going to see Rin. I was at the rice fields and then… there was a tree… and lights…” Everything swirled together into colors moving too fast. Silence rang in Sousuke’s ears like a rush of bells under water. Would people die again? Would it be his fault?

A gentle touch narrows his attention to reality again. Kisumi is holding his hand, peering up at him with a curious expression tinged with concern just there at the corner of his mouth.

“Don’t make that face.” Kisumi says, bending down to smile soft despite the teasing way he pushes at Sousuke’s head. “C’mon, you’re filthy. I’ll take you where you can wash. Maybe a little fun will make you stop looking so serious.” He poked between Sousuke’s brows and then he was standing, pulling Sousuke along with him.

Kisumi hummed something as they walked. The fox kept a hold of Sousuke’s wrist and in the back of his mind, behind the rushed worries for his village, he wondered if it was to keep him from getting lost - or to keep him from running away. Foxes were supposed to be mischievous spirits. They could be helpful when they wanted - and malevolent when they so chose. But… it was hard to put that thought together with this pink haired boy bobbing his head to the tune of his odd little song.

Slowly the strings tugging so tightly at his heart lessened their grip. Perhaps it was Kisumi’s humming but a big part was the forest that surrounded them. Everything was so green and full of life. Birds darted through the trees while bugs lazily passed the two boys by. A line of ants crossed their path that Kisumi stepped over without missing a beat. Moss, mushrooms, fallen nuts, flowers flourishing in the patches of sunlight filtering down in golden specks. Sousuke did not know why, but he had always imagined this forest as far more dark and eerie than the bright and lively beauty before his eyes.

Eventually the trees opened up into a small rocky beach split by a crystal clear river. One could see the occasional fish moving by over the worn smooth rocks. Sousuke had to blink away how bright the sun was. Before his eyes could fully adjust Kisumi was letting go of his hand - and when Sousuke turned to look for him with squinted eyes and hand over his brow he was met with a splash of cold water.

Kisumi giggled. “What are you standing there for? You stink more than the boars.”

“You’re strange,” Sousuke said even as he followed Kisumi into the water. It came just above his knees, Kisumi’s too but - funnily enough the Fox did not seem to care about getting his pristine red and white kimono wet.

Instead he splashed Sousuke again. “You’re the strange one. How clean are you gonna get just standing in the water?”

“How dirty are you gonna get in those fancy spirit clothes?” Sousuke countered, splashing Kisumi back.

“They’re just my clothes, they’re not fancy!” Kisumi laughed and returned the watery attack.

Like this the two splashed each other, playing as if they had known each other for years. At some point Sousuke tackled Kisumi and they both get drenched before Sousuke puts in the concentrated effort to actually clean his clothes. The two boys leave their soaked things to dry on the shore while they lay in their underwear, basking in the sun as they caught their breath.  
Sousuke lay with his arms under his head and watched the clouds lazily pass by overhead. He was probably going to get a tan. It was hot so high up, away from the ocean breezes and further up the mountain. But it was a clear heat. “Thanks for saving me Kisumi.”

Kisumi merely shrugged. “Eh, I couldn’t let a human die so close to the Line again.”

By the hitch in his voice at the last syllable he had said something he had not meant to give away. Sousuke narrowed his eyes. A larger cloud cast the both of them in shadow. “What?”

“The tree you climbed had fallen and broken the Line,” Kisumi explained - staying on course but steering just clear enough of the true destination. “But the forest moves sometimes. I don’t think you did it on purpose.”

It was so unexpected a statement Sousuke was sidetracked from his initial line of questioning. “The Forest… moves?”

“Yeah, it,” Kisumi waved one hand in the air, trying and failing to make gestures for words he could not find, “shifts. Sometimes even us spirits that live here get lost if we’re not careful.”

It was a terrifying image, whole trees and bits of earth moving overnight. Was Kisumi so calm talking about it because it was not so bad - or because he was a mischievous fox spirit? “Why does it do that? Does the mountain god make it change?”

“Nah,” Kisumi shook his head, unperturbed, “the forest has a mind all its own separate from the guardian.”

“Guardian?”

The cloud had moved past the sun. They were again bathed in light and heat. “Are you hungry? I’m hungry. Our things should be dry enough to put on.” Sousuke sat up slowly to watch Kisumi get dressed as if he had not just changed the subject. Once again.

But Sousuke was hungry, that he could not deny. He spoke slowly in barely withheld suspicion. “Will I die or be stuck here forever if I eat spirit food?”

Kisumi turns to face Sousuke in mid motion, his hands still grasping at the tie to his pants. A moment passed - and then he’s laughing, loud and bright as before. “What kind of question is that? Do you think we have our own food? What - like spirit rice versus human rice? Ghost chickens?” Snickers break out between each new concept. It seems Kisumi is highly amused by this. “You humans really have strange ideas about us forest folk.” More thoughts on different human and spirit food combinations filtered through Kisumi’s laughter as he began to walk back towards the trees.

“Hey, wait!” Sousuke called, hopping into his pants and pulling on his top as he chased after Kisumi. While he did not fully trust this boy, so far he had not shown any overt violence towards Sousuke. At best he was a sort of annoying guide (savior?) At worst he was a liar.

As they walked the sun became lower and lower in the sky, making the trees cast longer shadows that changed from vibrant green hues to soft oranges in the late afternoon glow. Everything seemed to be set aflame by the ever setting sun, flowers even seemed to droop and close in preparation for a sleepy night of rest. Ahead of them a few softly bobbing balls of yellow light appeared along the grass. They seemed to be coming out of-were those small stone shrines? He could just begin to make out aged gray pagoda roofs coated in dark green moss that made them nearly blend in with the grass. From his vantage point none looked any bigger than his head. Before Sousuke could ask what they were Kisumi was pushing him down into bushes just off of the path they had been walking.

“I forgot all about them!” Kisumi hissed more to himself than Sousuke, keeping the both of them low in the foliage. A few of the first lights slowly wove past them along the path completely unaware of the two boys.

“Are those fireflies?” Sousuke asked.

“Shhh!” Kisumi hushed him. “They’re spirits!”

“Will they hurt me?”

“What? No,” Kisumi waved a dismissive hand, “they don’t do things like that. Besides they’re only just waking up and leaving their houses.”

“So why are we hiding?”

“Because I’m the only one that knows you’re here. Now shut up already.”

With that little nugget of truth finally drug out of Kisumi Sousuke remained silent. Kisumi was the one who saved him from the storm. Kisumi was the only one that knew he had entered the forest. “That’s why you didn’t say anything about my village being in danger. No one else knows I’m here. Everyone is safe as long as it’s just you.”

“Will you be quiet?” Kisumi swiped his hand to cover Sousuke’s mouth in an attempt to silence him.

But Sousuke’s mind was reeling again with this new information. He slid just out of Kisumi’s reach. Nobody was going to starve just yet! People would not die. No one would have to give away their food so that another may live. “So if I sneak out without anymore spirits seeing me everything will be okay.”

“That’s,” Kisumi deflated just a tad, his shoulders sagging and eyes downcast, “easier said than done.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Sousuke countered quickly.

For the first time Kisumi showed a sign of frustration. He sucked air between his teeth, a small annoyed sound. “If you stay quiet until they’re gone, I’ll tell you.” A won concession. Sousuke watched him for a long searching moment before he nodded.  
Like that the two remained still and silent until the last of the lights disappeared into the ever darkening distance. Even the faint birdsong seemed to fade off with the sunlight, leaving only the cicadas to fill the air with their screams. Briefly Sousuke believed he saw a flash of pale pink in the bushes across from them - but then it was gone and Kisumi was pulling him to stand.

“I’m starving,” Kisumi sighed dramatically, rubbing at his belly.

He was trying to make the situation light. Sousuke would not let him keep a hold of it’s direction though. “And then you’re going to tell me how to get home.”

Kisumi’s cheeks puffed up in a pout. Childish, performative, for sure. But there was a strange sadness in his eyes for a second before it was covered over. Guilt settled heavy as a stone in the pit of Sousuke’s stomach. “Fine, fine,” Kisumi relented with a dismissive hand gesture. Was it a kitsune trait to be so withholding of information and emotion, or a spirit one?

They had not been far from their destination. “I’m back,” Kisumi called, bringing his arms up in greeting and twirling round to face Sousuke with a grin. “Would’ve brought you here but the old shrine has a better roof, even if it’s old.”

‘Here’ was a small, single room hut created by the branches and leaves of two trees. They were low to the ground and branched up as well as out to the side in growth so interwoven Sousuke could not clearly see where one ended and the other began. There was even a door made of branches bound together by woven grass. The structure lay in an open space partly shaded by a large tree that would take ten men standing fingertip to fingertip to encircle. Around the tree was a rope with white paper tokens and golden tassels. A home for spirits.

Kisumi lit a lantern as Sousuke stepped inside the house of trees. As the flame sparked to life it cast light dancing through the air in brilliant colors, reds, blues, soft yellows - making Sousuke blink rapidly to make sense of it all. From the inside one could better see the distinctive branches, growing every which way at strange angles with knobby knees like spiders legs. From them hung strings laden with a myriad of items including beads, glass, colored paper, bits of pottery, and strips of fabric. Through the open door in which Sousuke still stood came a soft evening breeze that sent them all twirling. As if they did so in welcome of the master of the house and his guest.

“Ah-don’t close the door yet.” Kisumi broke Sousuke from his fascinated stupor, stepping in past him to call out through the doorway. “Hayato, come on in! You want to eat, don’t you?”

“Who-?”

A flash of pink, a brush of fur past his legs, and there is something else in the house with them. A quivering fox backed into one of the far ‘corners.’

“Wait-“ This was the fox that Sousuke had seen at the shrine. He looked between Kisumi who was closing the door to begin making a meal, and the fox. “That was not you I saw, before. The fox.”

“No, this is my little brother Hayato. He’s shy.” Kisumi wiggled his fingers in the direction of the little fox as he spooned out bowls of rice from a large earthen pot, then plucked dried fish from another.

Now that he was able to look closer Sousuke could see that Hayato’s fur was a different shade than Kisumi’s hair, his eyes a darker tone as well. He was so small. “Why is he-?” Sousuke gestured up and down, unsure of how to word the question he was posing.

“Why is he on four legs instead of two?” Kisumi snickered. He placed a flat wooden slab of dried fish and meat before Hayato before seating himself in the middle of the floor. “Kitsune cannot change our form until we’re a little older than he is now. Come, eat.”

“I have a brother too.” Sousuke supposed it was not strange to think a kitsune may have siblings, or that they may gain more abilities as they age. It did make them seem far more… human in a way though. He sat and crossed his legs to briefly survey Kisumi’s work. Simple but well cared for white and blue bowls of rice. Worn chopsticks. Mismatching red and gold patterned plates for the dried fish and a couple cooked vegetables.

Kisumi perked up as he chewed. “Older or younger?”

Sousuke swallowed his bite of fish. Bland, but edible. “Older. His name is Kazuma.”

Kisumi hummed in response as he ate. His eyes were downcast and as he chewed his shoulders fell. When he swallowed he let out a sigh. “He must be worried about where you are.”

“We can leave now.” Sousuke began, nodding fervently. “You can show me the way out of the forest. I can sneak past the Line and just tell everyone I hid out the storm in a cave or something. No one will know I came here.”

“Like I said. It’s not that easy.” Kisumi set his bowl and chopsticks aside in favor of propping his elbow on his knee and holding his cheek in his palm. His brows were furrowed - it was concern. “The forest moves.”

“You said that before.” He was getting frustrated. Sousuke did not want to scare Hayato even more - he could hear him beginning to shake with uncertainty - but he could not keep his volume from rising. “But you said if spirits are not careful. So be careful and show me the way out! I need to go home!”

Kisumi did not rise to meet Sousuke’s anger in the same way Rin would have. Rin would have gotten angry right back and made it a battle of sheer stubborn will between the two of them. With him it would have kept rising until they both ended up shouting and maybe even fighting. But Kisumi only continued trying to explain in a calm, albeit sad, way. “I’ve never been so close to the edge as when I found you. I can get to different places in the forest like here, the shrine, the river, but… sometimes it keeps spirits in just as much as the Line keeps humans out.”

He didn’t much care if Hayato got scared now. Unable to temper himself any longer, Sousuke stood and paced the floor anxiously. “Can’t we just - I don’t know - head south? Follow the stars, see where the sun is when it’s morning?” Sousuke was beginning to grasp at straws and he knew it.

Kisumi laughed. But it was not his amused laughter of before, or even the withheld giggles. It was rueful. “I don’t know how to do any of that, do you?”

Of course not. Sousuke stopped moving - plopped back down onto the ground. The only reason he knew the village lay to the south was because he had heard it all his life. The forest to the north, the road east and west, south towards the sea. For the boy that got lost playing across the land he had grown up in words like north and south were just that - words. Nothing like the concepts attached to constants that were the movements of the sun or the stars in the sky.

How was he supposed to get home? If even the kitsune spirit that had saved him could not navigate this beautiful, mysterious, downright evil forest Sousuke was stuck in? And through no fault of his own other than his stupid lack of direction?

“Sousuke.” Kisumi’s voice barely reached Sousuke in the circling whirlpool of hopelessness he had been drawn into. Was he going to be stuck there forever? Would he never know for certain if his village, if his family was safe?

This time it was Hayato that pulled Sousuke out. A hesitant, wet little nose pressed against his leg. Dark purple eyes that were still rimmed with fright and yet - he wanted to comfort Sousuke. Sousuke bit his lip and slowly reached down to stroke at the small foxes head. And, although he twitched at first, Hayato allowed the touch and soon was pressing his warm head into Sousuke’s palm.

“I promise I will find a way for you to go home.” Now Kisumi’s voice sounded closer.

As if he had been caught in an actual whirlpool, not just the one made up of his emotions, Sousuke was suddenly exhausted. He rubbed at his eyes with his free hand. “Thank you,” he said to the both of them. He appreciated Kisumi’s promise, and he believed it to be sincere. But promises meant nothing if there was no plan behind them. “I think I’ll go sit outside. Just for a while.”

The night sky was clear when Sousuke stepped out. Kisumi and Hayato’s small hut, the large tree, were in a clearing that allowed a nice view of the stars. Pinpricks of bright white light poked into the dark blue fabric stretched out over everything. Some clustered together so close if you looked away from them quickly they melded into one. Tiny stars fighting for a place among other bigger, brighter ones that tried to dominate the regions of the night that they occupied. He could hear Kazu-nii talking about the stories that the stars told. Sousuke’s heart ached until he swallowed it down. If only he knew how to read the constellations like all of the fishermen back home did.

“What was the one old man Honda always talks about? The fish-no-the monk?” Sousuke grumbled and rubbed at his head with both hands as he walked around the small clearing. He was annoyed at himself, annoyed at how bad he was with direction. It was something to be joked about with Rin, a little character flaw that was harmless in a village where everyone knew you. But out here it was a curse.

A change in his line of vision made Sousuke stop. There was a long, irregular cylinder of gray stone set into the grass a bit a ways from the tree and the house. Different portions of the long sides and the top had mounds of smaller, paler rocks. When he bent down he saw that it was actually hollow. The edges around the opening were jagged. What kind of strange rock-

“That’s it!”

Kisumi was laying a large animal fur down over some leaves when Sousuke burst back through the door. Hayato jumped and skittered to huddle near the large earthen pots. “I go to the top of the mountain! Even if the trees move, they can’t change the mountain! I go to the very very top, the highest part. From up there I can see the village and if I just keep walking towards it, don’t stop, there’s no way the stupid moving forest can mess me up!”

The kitsune considered it. Kisumi held his chin in his hand, tilting his head to one side. “It’ll be pretty hard to just walk and not rest coming back down. But I think if I see from the mountain I’ll have enough to be able to remember what direction the village is. In case we do need to stop to rest.”

A pause. Sousuke had been so excited at his idea he was not certain he heard correctly over the blood rushing in his ears. “We?”

“Duh!” Kisumi exclaimed. “I said I would help you go home and I meant it. Besides, you’ll need me to make sure no other spirits will see you. It’ll be hard, but we can do it. A lot of spirits don’t like it when it’s hot so if we walk all day tomorrow and make it to the top by dusk it should be fine.”

As he spoke Kisumi seemed to convince himself even more until he nodded definitively. “It’s even more time until you get home, but it’s the best plan we’ve got. May make it harder to explain why you’ve been gone - but that’s plenty of time to figure out your excuse.” That interested him, it was obvious by the way he grinned, eyes narrowing in the prospect of some fun trickery. Leave it to a kitsune to get excited about thinking up believable lies. Even still, Sousuke realized he had been hoping Kisumi would come with him. As strange as this kitsune was… Sousuke felt he could trust him.

They cleaned up after dinner and got ready to sleep. Sousuke was given the newly made pallet Kisumi had been constructing, while he and Hayato curled up on another against the opposing wall. For a few seconds Sousuke wondered how he would be able to sleep in this mysterious, cursed forest of spirits. But the worries lasted for just that, a couple of seconds. Then he was drawn into a deep sleep. Apparently finding yourself in the forest that had cursed your village for years, meeting kitsune spirits, traversing through woods riddled with beings that could curse your village all over again, left one with a fair bit of exhaustion.

It was a dreamless sleep beyond foggy images of all he had seen and experienced that day. When he first opened his eyes Sousuke thought maybe his sleeping world had followed him into the daylight hours. Soft morning light filtered through the leaves of the ‘roof,’ casting slow moving shapes of color everywhere from the hanging bits of glass and beads. Outside the birds and bugs were already well awake.

That’s right. Sousuke was in the forest of the mountain. He had stayed in the house of a kitsune and his younger brother. They were going to climb the mountain today to see where his village was so that he may finally return home. It was then that he thought of his mother going to Rin’s house to look for him. She would have assumed he spent the night and went to retrieve him in the morning. How worried she would be to hear he had never made it there in the first place.  
Mixed in with the images of his mother a thought occurred to him. “Where are your parents?” He asked when he leaned up. Kisumi was awake too, beginning to set out their breakfast. Hayato was still asleep on the fur. If spirits had siblings - then surely they had parents.

“They’re gone.” Not a pause, not even a stray glance away from his task at hand. The same as any child from Sousuke’s village that had lost a parent to the Cursed Years. Only Kisumi wore a soft, nostalgic sort of smile when he said it.

“My father is too,” Sousuke said, oddly meek with his voice for him. He did not look at Kisumi when he said it. Something about the way Kisumi had smiled mentioning his own dead parents made Sousuke’s throat close up tight. “Is Hayato okay on his own?” He asked when he slid closer to the food, unable to take even the briefest of silence.

“He probably would be for a day, but he will come with us.” Kisumi stopped moving to look over at his brother on the pallet. Hayato was sleeping soundly, his body holding none of the rigid fear Sousuke had remembered from the night before. “He doesn’t like being alone or away from me.”

“So yesterday?”

Kisumi shook his head and returned to the task at hand: breakfast. “He was never far. He’s so small and quiet he’s good at hiding.”

Sousuke stopped eating for a moment, resting his bowl on his knee. He kept his eyes on the plates of food. They did not have much to eat, and what there was had little to no flavor so simple it was. Sousuke had been spoiled by his family’s cooking. “Kazu-nii isn’t really my brother. He’s a cousin. His parents died during the Cursed Years, same as my father. He moved in with me and my mom. I don’t really remember a time without him.”

“Do you get along?” Kisumi asked. He was curious, Sousuke could tell by the way his voice was a little higher than before.

Sousuke shrugged. A return to an easier topic, he could eat and move his eyes up again. “Like any brothers do I guess. He teases me, but he and Rin are the ones that always find me when I get lost.”

Kisumi laughed. “Do you get lost often? Who’s Rin?”

“Not all the time,” Sousuke said in a low, defensive mumble. “Rin is my friend.”

“He’s the one you were going to see in the storm,” Kisumi offered, face brightening up at his remembering.  
Sousuke snickered at how proud of himself Kisumi seemed just at that. “Yeah. We swim and play games a lot.”

“What sorts of games do humans play?” Kisumi leaned forward a fraction with purple eyes alight in interest.

Kisumi asked most of the questions. He was very curious about humans and how they lived their lives - although he never said as much in so many words. He simply asked for clarification or examples of the answers Sousuke would give to each new topic in question. Although it was not as much, Sousuke learned a little about spirits in turn. There were other young forest folk that Kisumi often played with. Other kitsune, ghosts of children, young kappas that lived in the ponds and rivers. Most spirits moved about at night while living creatures made use of the day hours. Older spirits often brought Kisumi and Hayato food and had helped them a great deal when they were younger. The forest folk had their own summer festivals like those the humans had in their villages. They both expressed a desire to see the festivals of each other’s people.

But once he got out would Sousuke ever be able to return? Could Kisumi ever leave the forest to run around between the booths of Sousuke’s people, much less look human enough to blend in? A twisted feeling budded in Sousuke’s chest over these thoughts.

Once Hayato had woken up and eaten they set out. Sousuke asked if there was any food they could spare for the trip - but Kisumi only laughed. “There’s more than enough along the way.” He said.

Kisumi laughed at just about everything. At times it made Sousuke laugh as well. Sousuke would stop to admire an especially big rhinoseras beetle climbing a tree only to turn around and find Kisumi standing with his elbow touching his nose, arm stretched up to imitate the insect. Sometimes Sousuke even thought he heard Hayato laughing - as much as a fox could laugh anyway. Which really was an eerily human sound.

At other times it made the twisted vines in his chest grow tighter. Kisumi would comment on how Hayato was getting used to Sousuke, standing atop rocks that were stable enough for Sousuke to grip onto at steeper parts of their climb. He would hop between them to show the easiest path, stopping to wait whenever they had to slow down. Kisumi would laugh a small, sweet laugh saying how nice it was to see Hayato not so scared of someone new. A human no less.

What was there to laugh about? Their parents were gone. Kisumi had never said it but Sousuke figured that was why Hayato was so scared of most he did not know. Even now if a rock slipped beneath their feet and made any noise louder than a pebble Hayato would nearly jump out of his skin. What part of the tragedy that was their life worth laughing at? Even if things were better now, even if older forest folk helped them, even if they had friends… it was not funny that Hayato had fears to move past in the first place.

“There’s a pond up ahead,” Kisumi said at about mid day. He tugged at the neck of his kimono and fanned at his chest. Even Hayato was beginning to pant a little. “Let’s drink and rest. It’s getting too hot.”

Their first sign of it was the parting of trees and more light unobstructed by branches at the top of the rocky crags they had been climbing. Hayato reached the top first and then scampered away from the edge. Kisumi came second, squatting down to catch his breath and watch Sousuke not far behind. “Come on, I thought humans were hardier than this,” he laughed, giving Sousuke a hand up.

“We’re not all half animal or half forest or whatever you are,” Sousuke sighed. He was ready to just plop down there in the shade and the cool rock. But Kisumi seemed to sense this and did not let him stop for long - tugging him along into the light. Sousuke’s eyes had to adjust to the bright cast of the sun when he stepped out of the trees.

Even had he not just climbed one of the longest and steepest patches yet for the day the sight that met Sousuke’s eyes would have taken his breath away. It was a small valley at the top of one of the mountain’s midway faces. A breeze blew from behind him and whipped his hair and clothes, cooling the lines of sweat trailing down his back. The long grass that swayed with the wind was the purest green he had ever seen, the softest he had ever felt against his feet. A fraction of the crystal blue sky and its fluffy white clouds had drifted down to the earth and settled itself here. The mirror image rippled silently, reverently from where Hayato drank at the edge of the pond. A single tree stood in this open space a few paces from the pond. It was not as wide at the trunk as others in the forest but it was tall and strong. He could barely see a few birds that were flitting amongst its branches.

Kisumi had left him gaping. He cupped water to drink then to splash into his face before falling back into the easily shifting grass. Hayato nosed affectionately at his face with his tail swishing in contentment. A small part of Sousuke felt both lucky to be seeing this private scene in such a beautiful place - as well as intrusive. Unwelcome. The thorny vines pricked at his heart.

The feeling lessened when Hayato brought his head up to look at Sousuke. His tail lifted and flicked from one side to another. An expectant wave over.

“It’s really nice up here,” Sousuke admitted once he’d taken a drink and fallen onto his back beside Kisumi. “I could stay here forever.”

“If we’re really bored sometimes we come this way to watch the stars at night.” Kisumi hummed.

“Do all the forest folk know about this place?” Sousuke asked. With how cool it was, away from the humid heat among the trees, he was surprised they had not come across any other living spirits.

“Some, but not all.” Kisumi’s expression was warm. His eyes had a light in them that Sousuke could only begin to grasp. Nostalgia? Love? “Our parents brought me here when I was little. Then I started bringing Hayato and a few of our friends.”  
Sousuke could just picture it. A younger Kisumi with hazy figures in place of his parents. Larger adult shapes, mayhaps with hair shades similar to Kisumi and Hayato’s. Sousuke imagined his mother must have been very pretty, smiling at an energetic little Kisumi. A flash of another scene. Kisumi not much different than he is now showing Hayato the way. Just the two of them. No parents in sight.

_So why was he smiling like that?_

The vines were strangling him from the inside. It was hard to breathe. Sousuke stood up quickly. “I have to pee. I’ll be right back.” He thought he heard Kisumi’s melodic voice behind him as he hurried off, something about being careful, not going too far. Most of it was lost to the high pitched rush in Sousuke’s ears.

“Stupid, stupid, stupid!” Sousuke said once he was out of ear shot. It was only a few steps down to enter the trees on another edge of the peak they had reached. Where idiot Kisumi and his stupid smiles and laughs were. Smiling and laughing in the sunlit grass of where his parents had once been and were no more.

It was annoying. It was all so stupidly annoying! And what annoyed Sousuke even more was how stupid he was being about it all. Why be angry at Kisumi who was helping him find his way home? Who had probably saved him from drowning in the floods of that storm? Who made sure to keep them away from other forest folk so that Sousuke’s village would not again be cursed for one of their own entering this land of spirits? Sousuke did not understand himself and usually he did. Most times Sousuke knew his own mind and body pretty well. At least he had thought so.

Until he did not watch where his feet took him. So caught up in his maze of thoughts was he that Sousuke had not noticed where he was going until he very nearly collided with a tree. Broken from his confusion Sousuke jumped back, then looked around him. How long had he been walking? He could not see any sign of the stones he had stepped down from. There were only low bushes and a silence that was nothing like the forest he had come to know over the past two days.

“Where am I?” Everything was so still his voice seemed much louder than he had meant it to be.

A heartbeat later and his own voice was not the only sound. There was movement of foliage not far from him. A drifting shadow through the trees. It was much, much larger than Kisumi - and it was coming his way.

Just his stupid luck. Sousuke looked around for anywhere to hide. His heart was pounding so loudly he could feel his whole body shaking with it. The bushes nearby were too low to the ground, they did not get near as much light here as other parts of the forest floor did. There was no way they would hide him. As the shadow continued towards him Sousuke cursed his dumb stubborn ways, his propensity for getting lost, and scurried up the tree with the most leaves. He did not risk climbing high enough to be above whatever was coming his way. Once he had found a thick enough branch with leaves surrounding it that could shield him from view he stopped and sat very still. Fear made his breaths come fast - he clasped his hand over his mouth to silence them.

Trees parted as a large, red form stepped into Sousuke’s view. It was the height of five men easily, wearing simple light brown fur clothing over its body of ropy bright red muscle. When it turned towards the tree Sousuke was hiding in he gasped. Two horns and a single yellow eye. It was an oni.

The large ogre grunted as it looked around. It had heard Sousuke and come looking for the source of the sound. If he found Sousuke he would eat him and that would be that. No one would know what had happened to him. Not his family, not Kisumi, no one. His only hint of relief was that an oni was not likely to tell other spirits that it had found a human as long as it was the one that got to eat him. Hopefully his village would not be cursed for his own stupidity.  
The oni had begun to move aside branches and kick through the forest floor. It was still searching for him. It moved from tree to tree until at last it faced the one Sousuke was in. When it rose up it’s big red hand it blocked out the sun - and Sousuke closed his eyes. This was it. Sousuke was going to die.

“Hah?” The oni made a confused sound and then Sousuke could see the light of day through his eyelids again. It had moved away. Hesitantly Sousuke open his eyes to see what blessing had saved him.

A flash of pink jumped from a tree across from him and skittered up the oni’s shoulder to sit atop it’s head. A pink fox, bigger than Hayato, laughed from it’s place between the oni’s horns. His tail swished quickly in amusement. Kisumi.

“Raaargh?!” The oni roared in surprise mixed with anger. Large hands grasped at it’s head. But it could not see and Kisumi was small and quick. He bounced between the ogres hands and it’s head, making a game of always waiting just until the ogre almost swatted at him before jumping out of reach.

After a few minutes of this back and forth, as the oni became more and more enraged that Sousuke was certain it’s face had turned an even darker shade of red, Kisumi hopped to a nearby branch. With one mocking laugh thrown over his shoulder he began nimbly jumping from tree to tree to lead the oni away. As soon as it had disappeared behind the tall trees something flashed onto the branch before Sousuke so fast he nearly fell right out of the tree. Clinging to other nearby limbs to steady himself, Sousuke saw that it was Hayato. The young fox pressed his nose against his leg, his elbows with small worried whines. He was checking him over for any injuries.

Sousuke relaxed. “I’m not hurt,” Sousuke reassured the fox with a stroke to his head.

It took a few scratches behind his ear but finally Hayato calmed enough to first lead Sousuke down the tree and then, once he had listened to make sure the coast was clear, back to the pond. The both of them sat beneath the tree to rest and to wait. Sousuke pulled his knees into his chest despite the heat. “I hope Kisumi is okay,” he says as Hayato pressed against his side in agreement. If he was alright Sousuke told himself he would apologize, he would do everything in his power to come back and see Kisumi after he returned to the village. He would even sneak some sweet buns for him, some of his mom’s cooking.

Across from them Kisumi came climbing over the edge. There were leaves in his hair like the first time Sousuke had seen him - but he looked otherwise unharmed. Even still both Sousuke and Hayato shot up and ran over to him together.

“Hey-“ Kisumi began to greet with a tired smile. But he didn’t get to finish, having the air squeezed out of him by how tightly Sousuke hugged the kitsune the moment he had reached him.

For every time he had pushed him or pulled at his hands Kisumi seemed surprised to have the contact initiated by Sousuke. His whole body went stiff in shock as Sousuke pressed his face into his shoulder and held him close. “I’m glad you’re okay.” As he fought back the sting of tears something inside of Sousuke began to splinter and crack. “I was so worried you were going to die and the last thing I would have heard of you was your stupid laugh.”

The tension left Kisumi’s body. “There’s no way a silly oni could best a kitsune. Duh,” Kisumi laughed as he hugged Sousuke back. And this time? Sousuke laughed with him.

Sousuke’s chest felt that much lighter when they started back on their path to the highest peak. As they walked they found tart berries that stained their fingers and the fur around Hayato’s mouth purple. Further along they ate a couple wild roots that Kisumi recognized as edible. The water from the mountain streams was sweet and cool as it ran down Sousuke’s throat.  
Kisumi the kitsune had saved Sousuke twice now, probably more if Sousuke counted the finer details of his time since he unknowingly crossed the Line. Any lingering sense of mistrust towards him was completely gone. In the back of his mind Sousuke made plans for how he could excuse himself from his family as well as Rin for a full day at a time so he could visit Kisumi and Hayato. Laughing, bright, pink kitsune Kisumi was a friend of Sousuke’s as much as any human villager was.

And so when black storm clouds began rolling into the sky with ominous clashes of lightning within their depths Sousuke felt apprehension towards more than just dangerous weather. Another chip fell away inside of Sousuke’s chest. He stopped walking stepping just to the side of the rocky path they had been climbing. He squinted at how quickly the clouds were moving. “Maybe we should stop and take shelter.”

Kisumi stopped and turned back. He had not even noticed that Sousuke was no longer right behind him. When he looked up at the sky for himself he only shrugged. “If we hurry we can get to the top before it starts raining. Then on the climb down the trees will get most of it.”

Sousuke shook his head. “I don’t think we’ll make it in time.” Hayato was looking between the two of them. Slowly he inched back towards Sousuke, away from Kisumi at the front. “Maybe there’s a cave we can wait it out in if we look,” Sousuke offered.

“We’ll be fine, you’ve already been gone from your family too long.” Kisumi insisted - probably the most serious he had been since the two had met. Just like Sousuke’s mother turning back to her pot, Kisumi closed the topic by continuing the climb to the peak.

The higher they went the harder it became. The times between surfaces they had to climb and those they could walk became shorter. Spindly shrubs and small trees clung stubbornly to the rock, their roots visible to the eye. Sousuke gripped onto one that ripped from the earth under his weight. His whole body slid down a fraction before Kisumi caught him by the hand. The wind buffeted behind him, a warning. “Almost lost you there,” Kisumi gave with a strained laugh.

“Please can we turn back, find somewhere safe?” Sousuke said, practically begging when he was able to hoist himself onto the small ledge with Kisumi.

Kisumi only smiled and squeezed Sousuke’s shoulder. “It will be okay. I promise,” and then he was climbing again. Sousuke called something out to him only to be drowned out by a violent crack of thunder. Hayato flattened himself against the ground in terror. Kisumi stopped just long enough to take up his little brother and nestle him inside his kimono against his chest.  
They did not beat the rain. It came down so hard, the clouds were so dark in the sky above them, Sousuke could not anymore see the peak to which they were meant to be climbing. It was all he could do to keep Kisumi’s pink hair and red kimono in his sights. Against everything he refused to lose Kisumi. Hayato was so young and scared he could only imagine how he was shaking, even against the body of his tireless big brother. Why would Kisumi not just stop? Why did he have to keep going, at a time like this?

Why was Sousuke, the one that needed to go home, the one with a family to return to, so willing to put it all on hold if it meant they would be safe?

A flash of yellow. Lightning struck not a yard above Kisumi’s head. The rocks, slick from the rain, shook beneath their hands and feet. Sousuke heard a cry and then everything stood still.

Kisumi was falling. His fluffy pink hair was flat, plastered to his skin gone pale in fright. The front of his red kimono was streaked in mud. Hayato’s small nose was poking out, open in a silent scream.

Sousuke caught Kisumi’s wrist and then time started over. Kisumi was dangling only by the hold Sousuke had on him. Sousuke strained against the weight, feeling fiery streaks of pain shooting through his fingers, the arm that held tight to mountain. The last chunk of stone fell away in his heart.

“I don’t understand how you can smile and laugh!” Sousuke shouted over the rain. “How you can just be so happy and stupid until you die for everyone else, but leave me and mom behind!”

“What?!” Kisumi shouted back as he swung in Sousuke’s hand. He reached out for a root but it ripped from the rocks and gave way with him as he swung back out.

“My dad died with a smile after he gave away all of his food to others! He died smiling and caring more about other people than my mom or me! Because he was a stupid, stupid man!”

The thunder stopped. Kisumi stopped swaying and he smiled, as radiant and warm as the sun. “That doesn’t make him stupid. He was happy he got to leave enough for you and a village of happy people to be with you and your mom when he was gone.”

It had stopped raining but Sousuke’s face was wet anyway. He was crying. His father… was happy that he got to leave behind a village of people to help his wife and his son… he smiled because he was able… to help make it a better village for his family to live in. All of the years of silent resentment, all of the misunderstanding he had never spoken, fell away.

Kisumi was able to grab onto stable enough rocks to finally let go of Sousuke’s hand. Once he had both hands and feet on strong surfaces he looked out and gasped. “Sousuke, look!”

The sky had opened up in a wash of brilliant blue. They were hanging not far below the peak. Starting from the clouds that still lazily clung to the very top of the mountain, following the line of a fast moving stream to their left, down to the roofs of his village far below - was a rainbow.

The trek back was short. Midway down the peak Kisumi spied a tree half in the water, half moored on the side of the stream. While Sousuke was not completely sold on the safety of this makeshift boat they had found he could not say no. Not with how light his heart, his chest, everything about him felt. Riding the log down the stream brought them to a parting in the forest that opened up onto the tree that was still fallen over the Line, pinning the rope to the ground.

“Told you the forest moves,” Kisumi laughed with a shove at Sousuke’s shoulder. But before Sousuke could retaliate he was pulling Sousuke into a hug. Somehow, that smile he wore wasn’t quite so stupid and annoying anymore. When they parted Sousuke thought he saw a little bit of shine in Kisumi’s eyes. “Don’t get lost on the way to your house, huh?”

Sousuke laughed and punched his shoulder. When he began to turn and climb the fallen tree, however, something hit the middle of his chest. Sousuke scrambled to catch Hayato that had jumped from Kisumi’s kimono. “Thanks, Hayato,” Sousuke whispered, hugging the softly chittering fox to him. “Take care of him. I’ll be back to help out soon.” As he passed Hayato back to Kisumi, Sousuke swore he saw him give a fox grin.

“Watch for offerings!” Sousuke called from the middle of the tree, waving back at the pair of pink kitsune. When he hopped down on the other side and turned round again, they were gone.

But Sousuke could still hear him as he walked through his village. There was his laugh and loud, ‘duh,’ when he realized some part of him had thought he would never see his home again. And when he waved to a woman walking slowly holding her daughter’s hand, another baby strapped to her back, he heard Kisumi’s soft voice and bright smile telling him his father had left a village of happy people. A happy village for his son Sousuke to call home.

And there it was, his home. With its tiled awnings and plants out front still dropping from it’s leaves after the rain. The front door with scratches from stray cats his mother fed. The window pane that squeaked whenever it was windy ever since Sousuke had broke it playing with a ball inside. A warm, happy home his father had left for them.

“Sousuke!” Sousuke’s mother cried when he entered. The spoon plopped into the pot completely but she did not care. In an instant she was kneeling in front of Sousuke and hugging him to her. “Where were you?! I went to the Matsuoka’s but they had not seen you, and the roads were so washed out from the rain, I thought-“

“Mooooom, I’m okay,” Sousuke whined despite the tears clouding his own vision.

“Where were you?!” She demanded when she pulled away long enough to look him over. “You’re filthy!”

“Someone saved me when I got lost in the storm. He’s my new friend.” Sousuke answered with a smile and laugh. One so loud he was sure they could hear him from the docks. “I think dad would have liked him.”


End file.
